In recent years, digital TV broadcasting has started and has enabled high-resolution high-definition pictures and speeches to be looked and listened by a television receiver. Further, almost coincidentally, support for networks proceeds in the television receiver. Then, with the proceeding, the functions of the television receiver have increased. As a result, the operation and various setting methods become complicated in the television receiver, and inquiries have increased in the customer support center prepared by the manufacturer or the like.
Generally, an operator receiving an inquiry asks a user to operate the remote control, recognizes conditions of the television receiver of the user and a cause of the event, then encourages the user to operate the remote control again, and attempts to solve the problem.
However, since the operation method becomes complicated as described above, there are many cases that the user cannot operate as instructed by the operator, and as a result, problems arise that the user is forced to be unpleasant and that the trouble of the user cannot be solved immediately. Then, a method is proposed that the operator operates an electrical appliance of the user directly or indirectly by a terminal via a communication network such as the Internet using an apparatus connected to the communication network, and thereby attempts to solve the trouble (see Patent Document 1).
However, in this method, a conflict may occur between the remote operation and direct operation. When the remote operation performed by the operator via the network and the direct operation performed by the user is performed almost at the same time, it is difficult to predict what state the appliance becomes, and it is hard to support. When the conflict occurs in the operation, the user consulting to solve the trouble is further confused, putting the cart before the horse. In contrast thereto, techniques are proposed that a dedicated gateway apparatus is prepared separately, and that instructions also in the direct operation are conveyed to a target appliance once via the gateway to control the appliance (see Patent Document 2).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-92206    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-44765